Event: An unexpected Vintage Port tasting (’77 – ’03)

[Steven Kooij]

Last Sunday I woke up to see the sun shining through the windows, blue skies and a temperature that just seemed to beg me to go out for beer on a nice terrace. Alas, Ronnie and myself had committed ourselves to visiting a wine tasting. Not that that’s a bad way to spend a day off, but with such weather I could understand Lady Roots for staying home.
However, a nice surprise greated us when we registered: a Vintage Port masterclass was also offered. Who are we to decline?

This tasting was hosted by Frank Jacobs, an accomplished Dutch wine writer and all-round great guy. The Ports were being provided by the IVDP together with the Dutch branch of ICEP. The theme was VP from 30 year ago to (almost) the present, and an interesting line-up was provided. Read on and see…

The Ports were not decanted as they had just been flow in from Portugal, but were opened appr. 1,5 hours before serving, and the wines themselves had an air time of at least 30 minutes in the glass. In order of tasting:

1977 Cálem VP – this looks old: pale tawny. Not a very expressive nose, light dried fruit aromas and caramel. Light bodied, sweet, with fig and rasin flavours. Long finish, unfortunately sharpish sweet, almost burning. Should have been drunk at least 5 years earlier.

1985 Poças VP – a pleasant surprise! Licorice on the nose, with still some fresh red fruit. Almost fresh. Medium bodied, bordering the full. Spicy and smokey, with a hint of dades. Smooth caramel on the nice finish. Good wine, drinking very well now, but capable of additional aging.

1989 Gran Cruz VP – what fun to see this wine in the line-up! I was very interested to find out how this would taste after the stories of the Crusting Pipe offline. I did not find the nose that enchanting – it did not give much. Supple bodied, nice structure, but a bit medicinal tasting. A slight hotness distract from an otherwise pleasant finish.
Not a bad VP at all – just one-dimensional. That does not mean I would finish a bottle of this in no time! Very nice to have tasted.

1994 Offley VP – wow, this smells minty…odd. Some dark fruit aromas, but it’s mostly mint, mint and mint again. Well structured, good balance, juicy red fruit if a tad medicinal. The finish was a let-down, though: very, very sweet with artificial fruit candy flavours lingering on. I did not like it much.

1995 Ferreira VP – now this smells young. I mean, REALLY young. The palate is not much different: full, rich and primairy. A good balance, but also a bit “angular”, if you know what I mean. Supple finish with yummy red cherries, lingering and warm.
I was impressed – really impressed – with this Port. A shame that Ferreira is so hard to find over here: this would be great to revisit in 5, 10, 15 years.

1997 Sandeman VP – not the Vau. Nose: closed. Palate: well structured, thick, with a backbone of very ripe fruit. Good finish, tannic.
This Port seemed to be almost completely closed to me. Revisit in 5 years.

2003 Noval VP – Stop spitting and start drinking. Droooooool. Repeat.

A very interesting tasting! Apart from the Noval and the Sandeman I had never tasted these VPs before, and (apart from the Ferreira) I doubt I would ever have bought any one of them. Lesson learned: don’t dismiss the lesser known houses out of hand!

[Al B.]

Stevie

That was a very interesting tasting and some great notes. Particularly interesting to me was the 1995 Ferreira. I have had a few 1995 ports recently and I am starting to think that this might be the Cinderella vintage of the '90s - there are some extremely good wines from that vintage out there. Wines which have opened and are drinking really well now but which seem to have the structure combined with the fruit to improve for a decade or two from today.

Its also interesting to read your comment on the Cruz 1989. How did Ronnie feel that this bottle compared with the one at the Crusting Pipe?

Alex

[Todd Pettinger]

Great notes Stevie! Thanks!

I have enjoyed the Ferreira 97 Vintage - if you can find any (it sounds like it is as hard to get ahold of there as it is here) do so... although tasted young at only 10 years old, I enjoyed this Port immensely. I am picking up more.

Todd